The present invention relates to the field of shipbuilding, and more particularly, to the form of a ship which may be used in all types of ships. The reconstruction of available ships in accordance with the form of the invention is also possible without tangible capital investments.
A ship generally includes a floatable hull having boards with left and right exterior sides, and a bottom with left and right exterior semi-bottoms. The semi-bottoms transition into the sides at the upper portions thereof, and meet at their lower edges along the longitudinal center of the ship. A keel extends downwardly from the bottom of the hull and generally along the length thereof. When navigating in aqueous medium, the underwater part of the ship includes the semi-bottoms and keel, and the above-water part includes the boards.
The present invention concerns improvement of major nautical features and navigability qualities of a ship, namely: buoyancy, stability, and propulsive quality, without the need for auxiliary devices. The invention achieves improvement of such nautical features and navigability qualities by significant modification of the form of the ship as compared with conventional ships. This improvement is implemented by unique specification of the angle between the semi-bottoms, the height to breadth relationship of the keel and semi-bottoms, and the relationship between the semi-bottoms and the boards.
Buoyancy. The waterline of a ship, where the surface of the water meets the hull, affects the buoyancy and weight-carrying capacity of the ship. The waterline area of a ship having an acute form of an underwater part is not large. Therefore the buoyancy and weight-carrying capacity of such a ship is comparatively small. In general, as the angle formed by the semi-bottoms increases, the area along the waterline increases and, consequently, the buoyancy and weight-carrying capacity of the ship increase. By continuing to increase this angle, it would seem that the buoyancy and weight-carrying capacity of the ship should also continue to increase. However, it has been found that upon increasing the angle between the semi-bottoms past a certain angle, the ship fails to meet technical safety requirements. Thus, it has been found that there is an optimal value for the angle between the semi-bottoms at which the maximum practical buoyancy and appropriate weight-carrying capacity are achieved without deteriorating the safety and navigability qualities of a ship.
Stability. If a heeling moment arises, the underwater part of a ship, which includes the semi-bottoms and keel, initiates a dynamic performance opposite the heeling moment, which counteracts the negative tipping effect of the heeling moment and causes the ship to level. It has been found that there is improvement of this leveling action by increasing the height of the keel as compared with its height on a conventional ship, while maintaining the height of the keel comparable with breadth of the semi-bottoms.
Propulsive quality. In the course of moving, a ship must overcome the resistance of the aqueous medium in which it is navigating. This resistance is the sum of two components:
a) Friction resistance of the underwater part of the ship against the water; and
b) Wave resistance.
Components influencing the friction resistance of the underwater part of a ship against the aqueous media include the value (area) of a friction surface presented by the ship as it travels through the aqueous medium. Special devices taught in the art, and intended to increase a ship's stability, are typically located on the boards of a ship and generally increase the friction resistance of the underwater part of the ship. Absence of such special devices enables avoidance of the corresponding increase in resistance to the ship's movement through the aqueous medium.
Wave resistance is related to the waves that develop from a ship moving through the aqueous medium. An increase in waves generated by the moving ship increases the wave resistance which the ship must overcome to move forward. The form of the underwater part of a ship in accordance with the invention decreases the volume displacement coefficient of the ship. As a result, the efficiency of waves developed in the course of movement of the ship is reduced, wave resistance to the ship's movement decreases, and, consequently, the propulsive quality of the ship increases. The present invention reduces the overall resistance to movement through water by achieving stability with out the need for auxiliary devices, thereby eliminating the additional frictional drag of such devices on prior ships, and reducing the wave drag on the ship, thus increasing the ships propulsive qualities as compared with conventional ships.
The present invention improves the structure of the ship's hull and regulates the angle between the semi-bottoms, the location of the semi-bottoms and keel in regard of each other, the keel height—semi-bottoms breadth ratio, and the direction of the exterior surfaces of the semi-bottoms and boards of the ship in regard to each other. In this manner, the invention addresses the above-described deficiencies of prior ships to achieve improvement in a ship's stability, buoyancy and propulsive quality.
Other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention shall become apparent in view of the description hereof when considered in connection with accompanying illustrative drawings.